My Story
by ashes and cinders
Summary: Mako goes to help Korra babysit the airbending children, and gets a surprise.


**AN: My first LOK fic, so be gentle with reviews please!**

It was quiet, oddly quiet actually. When Mako had heard that Pema and Tenzin were going to be out for the night due to some Council event, he had expected to arrive back to a house thrown into chaos. Why would he think this? Because of who Pema had asked to baby-sit the rambunctious air bending children.

Now who could be brave enough (or stupid enough) to take on such a task? Why none other than Korra. Why she had agreed to such a task was beyond him, but none the less, even after a long day of working at Police Headquarters he felt that he should offer her some sort of relief after spending an entire evening watching the rowdy children.

He decided to go get cleaned up before searching out the waterbender and her charges but never made it that far. As he was passing through to go to his room to get fresh clothes to change into, he heard giggling.

Walking up to the door he heard the noise emit from, he peeked in and saw an amazing sight. The three eldest airbending children gathered around Korra, _sitting still._ In all the time he had spent on Air Temple Island he couldn't recall a single time (other than meals and meditation) that he had seen the children ( with the exception of Jinora) sit still and be relatively quiet. He was about to make his presence known when he heard Ikki pipe up.

"Korra, can you tell us one more story? Pretty pleaaaaseee?"

"Ikki, that's the third story I've told you guys. It's time for you to go to bed."

"One more please? Then I promise we'll go to bed."

All three children held their left hands to their hearts and their right in the air and said, "Promise".

Korra sighed, then relented, "Fine, but after this one it's off to bed or your dad'll have my head."

Ikki piped up, laughing, " No he wouldn't Korra! Air benders don't believe in violence! The worst he'd do is make you run extra laps tomorrow!"

"Even more reason for me to make sure you go to bed." Korra grumbled.

"Come on Korra! Story!" shouted Meelo.

"Shhh! Meelo, you'll wake Rohan up!" said Korra and Jinora at the same time.

"Okay, what should the story be about then?"

"Action!"

"Romance…"

"Boogers!"

" Uggh, Meelo, for the last time I'm not telling a story about boogers.

"Aww!"

" How about I tell you the story of the lady and the fisherman?" asked Korra after drawing on her memory for a moment.

"Ok." All three children replied.

" Well it was long ago, during the Hundred Years War…"

" You mean the war Grandpa Aang ended?" piped in Ikki.

"Yes Ikki. Now no more interruptions or I won't tell the story."

All three children put their hands over their mouths.

" Now, as I was saying, it was during the Hundred Years War that a young woman grew up in the Northern Water Tribe. Her father was high ranking in the tribe and he was hoping to marry his daughter off to the Chief's nephew to increase his rank. He was having his daughter tutored to increase her eligibility for marriage. Well one day she got tired of studying and ran off from her tutors. She ran to the first place she thought of, the docks. They would never think to look for her there. She was running so fast she didn't see where she was going and she ran right off the dock and into the water. Now, luckily, a young fisherman was nearby and he saw the young woman fall into the water. He dove in after her and dragged her to the shore. He then waterbent the water out of her clothes. She thanked the young man. They ended up spending the afternoon together talking. Eventually, as evening set in one of her tutors finally found her and took her back home. Once they were in her room the tutor told her that she was not allowed to go to the docks again and that she shouldn't associate herself with men like the young fisherman. When the young lady asked her why the tutor told her that the fisherman was filth. That he had no money, that he was an orphan with no family and no place in society."

Mako was listening intently through the crack in the door. He could relate to the fisherman. People often referred to him and Bolin as scum when they were living on the streets. Even though the circumstances were beyond their control. He could also see the similarities between Korra and the young lady. Being the Avatar, Korra had a high rank in society.

"The young lady didn't voice it aloud, but she thought the tutor was wrong. The fisherman was nice, and how was it right to blame him and call him filth for circumstances beyond his control. It wasn't his fault that he was poor, just like it wasn't his fault that he had no family. The days, weeks, and months went on and the young lady continued to sneak away everyday after lessons to see the fisherman. They got to know each other very well. He told her how he had lost his father to a fishing boat that was caught in a storm and his mother to an illness only a few years later. She unloaded on him the expectations her father had for her. She told him of her secret opinions on the ranking system in their society and how she thought all the people in the higher ranks were too stuffy. She laughed at his jokes and cried when he told her of the hardships he endured trying to take care of himself at such a young age."

Jinora and Ikki were listening intently with stars in their eyes. Meelo was beginning to nod off, this girly sort of stuff bored him. Mako was still listening intently. He could now totally sympathize with the fisherman, for he knew what it was like having to fend for himself at such a young age.

" One day the lady's father informed her of the Chief's nephew's intention to marry her. It took everything the girl had not to break down crying in front of her father. She knew her father would force her to marry the Chief's nephew, even if she didn't love him. She knew in her heart that she couldn't marry the heir apparent, because she knew in her heart that she had fallen for the young fisherman. She had known for a while that she loved the young fisherman, not because he was rich or because he had social standing, but because he understood her, he knew the real her, not the show she put on for every one else."

Mako was no longer standing by the door, it was hurting his back and his legs were getting tired. He now sat cross-legged with his ear to the door.

" After hearing her father's news, the young lady went off at the first opportunity she could to meet the fisherman. When she found him and she told him what happened, he was silent for a long while. She begged him to say something. He knelt in front of her."

Both Jinora and Ikki have a sharp intake of breath. Meelo snored.

" He pulled a betrothal necklace from his pocket and explained that it was his mother's and how he had hoped to present it to her after he had earned enough money to make a life for her. She then knelt in the snow, grabbed his face and kissed him. She told him that she didn't care about money, as long as she had him. Both knew though that they could never be together in the North Pole because of the strict traditions forbidding members of different classes from being together."

"What! That's not fair!" Ikki explained. Korra gave Ikki a look, and then proceeded on with the story.

"They knew they would have to leave the North Pole, now all they had to do was figure out how to do it before the young lady was married. The young fisherman quickly came up with an idea. He knew that the Avatar was making his way towards the North Pole in search of a Waterbending master to teach him. He also knew that if the Avatar was coming, the Fire Nation wouldn't be far behind. So he devised the plan that the young lady would sneak onto one of the fishing boats during the attack that was sure to come from the Fire Nation. She would stay on the boat until it docked at a port in the Earth Kingdom, where she would get off and make her way to the South Pole. The fisherman knew that once the Fire Nation attacked the North Pole, the Northern Water Tribe would join in the war and he would be made into a soldier. He also knew that once the war was over, he would be able to go wherever he pleased without anyone noticing. So the two had a plan in place and the events came about just like the fisherman predicted they would. The lady made her way to the South Pole where she waited, watched and listened for any sign of her beloved. Months passed, and with those months, the end of the war. As time went on, the warriors returned steadily to the South Pole. Still there was no sign of the fisherman. The lady waited day in and day out at the docks, until one day, a lone boat arrived at the docks. Injured warriors, unloaded from the docks and as the men cleared away, there the lady saw the fisherman. She rushed to him, grabbed him by the collar and said, 'You're late', the fisherman laughed that musical laugh that the lady loved, and they kissed."

"What happened then, Korra?" asked Ikki, while yawning.

" What do you mean?" replied the Avatar.

"Did they live happily ever after?"

"It took a while, but yes, they eventually made their place in the tribe, married, and lived happily ever after."

"That's good…" said Jinora yawning and stretching.

"Alright you two, off to bed. You've had your story, time to sleep."

"Ok." Said the two girls.

Both left the room passing by Mako, who had stood after the end of the story, not even noticing him. He looked into the room and saw Korra tucking a sleeping Meelo into his bed.

Korra then turned around and seeing Mako, was startled and lost her balance, but flopped and quickly regained it before she fell on top of Meelo.

As she walked out of the room she looked at him and asked, " When did you get here?"

"Right before you started the story."

" Why didn't you come in?"

" I was going to come and help you with the kids, but I saw you had it under control and you were doing so well with them, I didn't want to disturb the quiet," Mako replied.

"Oh, thank you," said Korra.

"By the way, I liked the story. I've never heard it before. The characters were so realistic and easy to relate to."

"That's because they're not characters."

"Huh?" Mako asked with a raised eyebrow and a confused look on his face.

"The story is real," said Korra.

"Really, who's story is it?" asked Mako.

"Mine," said Korra with a smile.

"Okay, now I'm really confused."

Korra reached under her collar and pulled out a necklace and showed it to Mako.

"The lady was my grandmother, the fisherman was my grandfather. He gave this necklace to her when he asked her to run away with him and to eventually marry him someday. She passed the necklace on to my mother before she died, and my mother passed it on to me."

"Wow," was all Mako could say. "That explains a lot."

"What do you mean?" asked Korra, now looking puzzled.

"When you were telling the story I kept relating myself to the fisherman. It wasn't hard, our backgrounds are so similar, and when I thought of the lady, I noticed many similarities between her and you. High ranking, no regard for what your told…"

"Hey!"

"I'm not saying it's always a bad thing," said Mako, raising his hands in defense.

"It'd be a bad thing if she followed the tradition and let the prejudice keep her from my grandfather. If she hadn't believed that the old way of thinking was wrong, if she had followed tradition and married the Chief's nephew, she would never have had my mother and…"

"And we would never have met. Like I said, not always a bad thing."

" You were right though, when you said that we are alike. My mother has told me many times that I look like her, and that I act a lot like her, too."

"And that you both fell for men with nothing."

"Mako!" yelled Korra, looking irritated.

"What? It's true. Other than Bolin, I have no family, and even though I have a job with the police now, I still have almost no money. I have no way to provide a life for you, at least not the one you deserve," said Mako with his eyes downcast.

"Mako…" said Korra as she put her hand under his chin and forced him to look up at her. "You have this," she said as she placed her hand over his heart, "and that's enough for me."

And they kissed.


End file.
